whoever it was who mentioned A Very Peculiar Practice was available on BBC iPlayer, thank you! An absolute delight for those of us in the turbulent university world...plus ça change
Real Professor Moody
@petermoody.bsky.social
Macromolecular Crystallography, enzymology, particle accelerators, X-rays, neutrons, protons, electrons, motorcycles.
Delighted to share this paper in July's (!) Acta Cryst D, showing what happens to cysteines in the X-ray beam during data collection and is mostly ignored or misinterpreted doi.org/10.1107/S205...
It started off as a Cys, how did it end up like this? Identifying the extent of unmodelled oxidatively modified cysteines within the Protein Data Bank
This work examines data contained within 118 215 structures in the Protein Data Bank for unmodelled difference density concomitant with unmodelled oxidatively damaged cysteines. This analysis demonstr...
doi.org
youtu.be/VP7Dk6wnqE4?... It seems that not everyone knows about the long standing connection between my University and SDA
Happy 100th Birthday, Sir David Attenborough
YouTube video by University of Leicester
youtu.be
A theoretical framework for the development of dynamic nuclear polarization neutron macromolecular crystallography to advance the resolution of H atoms within biomolecular crystals is presented #DynamicNuclearPolarization #PhaseRetrieval #Hydrogen doi.org/10.1107/S205...
Absolutely delighted to have been included in this new twist to the story. Monooxygenase Activity of Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase | Journal of the American Chemical Society pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Monooxygenase Activity of Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is a heme-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the first, rate-limiting step of the kynurenine pathway─the oxidation of l-tryptophan to N-formylkynurenine (NFK). IDO-catalyzed depletion of tryptophan levels and accumulation of kynurenine pathway metabolites is an important control mechanism of the immune responses in cells. IDO has been considered as a dioxygenase because two atoms of oxygen are inserted into the substrate. Here, we use LC-MS and NMR to examine the reactivity of human IDO (hIDO) with l-tryptophan (l-Trp) and several other tryptophan analogues. Alongside dioxygenase activity, we identify a concurrent pathway of heme-dependent monooxygenase activity in the reaction of hIDO with l-Trp, leading to the formation of a cyclic 3a-hydroxy-1,2,3,3a,8,8a-hexahydropyrrolo[2,3-b]indole-2-carboxylic acid (HPIC) species. Reaction profiles for the reaction of hIDO with other tryptophan analogues are likewise examined. Formation of HPIC from l-Trp is reproduced in HeLa cells induced to overexpress hIDO, indicating that this dual dioxygenase/monooxygenase reactivity also occurs biologically. Notably, the reaction of hIDO with β-[3-benzo(b)thienyl]-l-alanine (S-l-Trp)─a known inhibitor ─yielded only the cyclic HPIC analogue, suggesting that IDO activity can be selectively directed toward the monooxygenase pathway. Molecular dynamics simulations underscore the critical role of substrate plasticity within the active site of hIDO, while DFT calculations provide a mechanistic rationalization for the observed product distributions. Together, the data demonstrate dual dioxygenase/monooxygenase functionality for human IDO. As the overall gatekeeper for control of tryptophan levels in cells, the findings provide mechanistic information on relevance to therapeutic strategies focused on IDO inhibition.
pubs.acs.org
Looking to start your lab in generative biology / AI? Come join us at the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social Sanger is core-funded so you can generate data at scale to train the next generation of models and understanding. Design/Engineering/Chemistry/Proteins/Pathways! pls RT tinyurl.com/GenGenFaculty
Group Leader - Generative Biology and AI
Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenge...
tinyurl.com
doi.org/10.1002/ange... absolutely delighted to have been included in this. @leicstructbio.bsky.social
Outside Back Cover: Solvent Channels and Electric Fields Guide Proton Delivery to the Active Site of Heme Peroxidases
Local electric fields guide protons toward the heme through two distinct electrostatic funnels at the γ- and δ-edges in heme peroxidases. Water-mediated pathways enable proton exchange with key resid...
doi.org
🧠 Fully funded 4-year PhD studentship 🧠 Please repost BBSRC NWD project with @parikki.bsky.social and @iamabyron.bsky.social Come join us to look at how mechanical and oxidative stress signalling pathways converge on the synaptic scaffold protein talin. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
(BBSRC NWD) A novel redox mechanosignalling nexus in the synapse that is misregulated in neurodegeneration at University of Liverpool on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - (BBSRC NWD) A novel redox mechanosignalling nexus in the synapse that is misregulated in neurodegeneration at University of Liverpool, listed on FindAPhD.com
findaphd.com
Dr Emma Hesketh @heskethemma.bsky.social tells us about what we can do with the Midlands Regional CryoEM facility
Spread the word if you can. We have an unused stopped flow accessory from Applied Photophysics. We traded in our Chirascan CD instrument so we have no use for this anymore. Reach out if you are interested and can find a home for this setup. Will ofcourse only work with a Chirascan!
💠 The ACA community mourns the loss of Dr. Benno P. Schoenborn (1938–2025), a pioneer in neutron protein crystallography whose work transformed structural biology. Read more and share memories: 🔗 bit.ly/42wNvlM #crystallography #InMemoriam #ACACommunity #neutrondiffraction
✒️ Parliament has been accused of an “outrageous abuse” that is “worthy of the Trump White House”, after refusing to issue us a media pass. Thousands have signed a petition calling on the government to give us access. Help defend press freedom, sign today. secure.declassifieduk.org/page/178447/...
Defend Press Freedom
I stand with Declassified UK - I've just signed my name. Join me in telling Westminster that you care about freedom of the press.
secure.declassifieduk.org
How do protons get delivered to the active site of heme peroxidases? A combination of solvent channels and electric fields, say @petermoody.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Solvent Channels and Electric Fields Guide Proton Delivery to the Active Site of Heme Peroxidases
Electrostatic potential surfaces and electric field lines reveal that local fields guide proton delivery through multiple conserved solvent channels in heme peroxidases, enabling efficient access to ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Ecstatic to have played a small part in this, we find that the first aerobes predate the GOE by almost a billion years! Photosynthesis implications Lead by Adrián Davín, @benjwoodcroft.bsky.social @xrefugee13.bsky.social @tweethinking.bsky.social @ssolo.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A geological timescale for bacterial evolution and oxygen adaptation
Microbial life has dominated Earth’s history but left a sparse fossil record, greatly hindering our understanding of evolution in deep time. However, bacterial metabolism has left signatures in the ge...
science.org
Can AlphaFold refine structures for X-ray & Cryo-EM/ET data? Now it can! Great collab with @moalquraishi.bsky.social and @randyjread.bsky.social led by @alisiafadini.bsky.social and @minhuanli.bsky.social. 🧵below. Code to follow...
Alisia Fadini@alisiafadini.bsky.social · last yr.Structural biology is in an era of dynamics & assemblies but turning raw experimental data into atomic models at scale remains challenging. @minhuanli.bsky.social and I present ROCKET🚀: an AlphaFold augmentation that integrates crystallographic and cryoEM/ET data with room for more! 1/14.
Well over 600 signatories now. Please keep the momentum going. Sign and share to show how much the wider scientific community is concerned by the Royal Society's silence over Musk's FRS. Members of the UK and international scientific community are all welcome to sign.
Stephen Curry@scurry.bsky.social · last yr.Now almost 450 signatories to my open letter calling on the @royalsociety.org to stand up for its values & deal with the widespread concerns raised by Elon Musk's Fellowship. Please consider signing & sharing: forms.gle/miDciq35oxyw... List of signatories here: occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...
**ALERT** Just a couple of days left to apply for this PhD opportunity in the Hopkinson and Tanaka groups in Leicester. Evaluating the impact of chemically reactive metabolites in premature ageing BBSRC MIBTP studentship - 4 years fully funded www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Evaluating the impact of chemically reactive metabolites in premature ageing at University of Leicester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Evaluating the impact of chemically reactive metabolites in premature ageing at University of Leicester, listed on FindAPhD.com
findaphd.com
Crystals on front cover of Imperial alumni mag! 👍Shame the story it links to is narcissistic self-congratatory bollocks
Wow! A real honour to be included on this year's list, thanks @quantamagazine.bsky.social and of course all the vital collaborators involved in the work youtu.be/p9XHI_26cPE?...
2024's Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology and Neuroscience
YouTube video by Quanta Magazine
youtu.be
Thank you everyone who contributed, I will post a list later.
Electron diffraction! From the awesome Hanna Kwon and Marcus Gallagher-Jones
Great to see it out! Paper itself wouldn't be possible, of course, without a veritable horde of collaborators, and thanks very much for @jonlambert.bsky.social for writing such a wonderful commentary!
Philip Donoghue@phil-donoghue.bsky.social · 2y agoReally nice commentary by Jonathan Lambert @jonlambert.bsky.social @quantamagazine.bsky.social about our study of the age and nature of LUCA, led by the awesome Ed Moody @emoody.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/all-life-on-...